One of the biggest ironies of having a creative service that people need, be it mural painting or writing, is that through inaction, we deny ourselves, as well as others, the chance to actually use our skills and talents.
The reason for this can be rooted to simply not doing enough each day that creates an opportunity for you to get the work (ideally paid!) that you deserve.
Here’s a list of some things you can do to create work opportunities for yourself. Most are pretty straight forward. Often it’s simply being reminded of them that can make a massive difference.
1. Email an old client.
2. Write a classified ad about your services in a popular magazine or directory.
3. Write a blog post that draws attention to your expertise and share it.
4. Go to an event such as a conference or gallery opening and aim to talk to just one person. Perhaps talk to a few more, and close each chat with an exchange of your awesome-looking business card.
5. Give a talk on what you are passionate about.
6. Start a newsletter.
7. Call or email potential clients and prospects.
8. Ask someone in your industry for advice. It’s amazing what lengths some people will go through to help you out. The very act of asking for advice is self-promotion.
9. Volunteer or intern somewhere relevant to your industry.
10. Create a video that could go viral, and promote it. Pray that it goes viral.
11. Start a small business centred around your passions that has a market.
12. Add people on your social media profiles.
13. Write a guide on something you know about and give it away, perhaps as a downloadable pdf.
14. Invite people to dinner who could potentially work with you.
15. Organise an outing or event related to your creative skill or passion.
16. Sign up for a course or workshop on something that could further your career.
17. Create a high-quality self-started piece of work to add to your portfolio and promote the heck out of it.
18. Hook up with someone new that you could collaborate with.
19. Offer to buy coffee or lunch over a chat for a prospect or influencer in your field.
20. Post business cards and postcards to people that you think would be interested.
21. Give away free stuff and/or presents to fans and prospects, especially your own work.
22. Write a well-researched guest post on someone’s popular blog.
23. Host a competition to win something on your site.
24. Offer people a free trial of your product or service before they pay.
25. Do something challenging and/or awesome for charity to raise your profile in the world.
Got some great ideas or just thoughts? Please do comment below. I love to hear your thoughts!
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